The province has given an update on its plan to address surgical backlogs. Exactly 124 joint replacement surgeries were completed since December. Of those, 62 patients were transported on eight flights from the western and Labrador Grenfell zones for cardiac catheterization in St. John’s, and 67 orthopaedic surgeries were done in St. Anthony by the travelling orthopaedic program. Health Minister Tom Osborne says the initiative has the potential to book more than 120 patients per year from the waitlist who would otherwise have to wait to get their surgeries in St. John’s.